Star editorial: With Kathleen Wynne at the helm, where do we go from here?

Kathleen Wynne is congratulated by outgoing Premier Dalton McGuinty after winning the leadership race at the Ontario Liberal Party leaderhip convention in Toronto on Saturday
(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn)

The Liberals veered left of centre Saturday night when they chose Kathleen Wynne as the first female premier of Ontario.

Wynne, a social activist turned politician, had sounded almost like she was running on the NDP ticket when she gave her opening speech earlier in the day. Clearly that’s the direction the party wanted to take, and that’s why three downed candidates and their supporters crossed the floor and gave her their votes.

With that decision the political landscape changed overnight, and Windsor and Essex County will feel it more than any other region in the province. Locally, the big question is whether Finance Minister Dwight Duncan will still have a place in cabinet.

The followup question is: Does he even want it? Duncan expected to end the weekend by handing over his Windsor-Tecumseh seat to Sandra Pupatello, who would go on to win a byelection, become premier and allow him to retire gracefully. Things did not go as planned.

If Duncan goes, this community will have lost two senior cabinet ministers in two years — and the clout that comes with having them at the table. Unless Wynne offers novice Windsor West MPP Teresa Piruzza something, we will have lost our voice at Queen’s Park.

We agree with Wynne’s desire to get MPPs back to work after such a long, and politically expedient, absence. She set Feb. 19 as her target date, saying she wanted to “get back to business.”

What business will that be? Dealing with the teachers and union supporters, thousands of whom protested outside Maple Leaf Gardens to show their displeasure with the Liberal government? Addressing the criminal investigation into the Ornge air ambulance debacle? Finally dealing with the gas plant scandal, which is why Dalton McGuinty’s prorogued the legislature in the first place?

Wynne is naive if she thinks Conservative Leader Tim Hudak won’t take the opportunity to demand to know why two gas plants in Liberal ridings were abruptly cancelled to buy votes in a byelection, or why taxpayers are on the hook for more than $200 million because of it.

Then there’s the provincial deficit, which didn’t mysteriously disappear while MPPs enjoyed their extended vacation. (It did, however, mysteriously drop to $11.9 billion just days before the convention took place.)

When Wynne gave her acceptance speech, she had this to say: “This leadership race has been about ideas, renewal and excitement … we will take that vision, that momentum, and transform it into a brighter future.”

The Liberal Party of Ontario might feel renewed and excited, but that doesn’t mean voters do. There were no specifics about how to make this transformation, or when we could expect it. True, that’s the nature of political speeches, but Wynne was talking like she represented a brand new party that would come in to right the wrongs of the old.

She needs to remember it’s the same party, with the same baggage, and a new leader won’t change that.

At this stage, the last thing Wynne wants is to have to call an election, and she’s banking on the public to be equally reticent to go to the polls. It would make sense for her to strike a deal with NDP Leader Andrea Horwath to protect her minority government and to deflect Hudak.

If that happens, the “transformation” Wynne talked about might not be one that leads us down the path to economic stability and a brighter future. That’s something that should concern us all.

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